Jesse Melamed wins EWS Petzen Jamnica

Sunday was a huge day for Canadian racers at the second round of Enduro World Series racing, with five Canadians on the podium across pro and u21 categories.

Leading that charge were Jesse Melamed and Emmy Lan. Melamed scored his first EWS win of 2022. Lan takes a second-straight under-21 women’s win, repeating her result from EWS #1 at Tweed Valley.

Pro: Melamed floats to EWS win in Petzen Jamnica

Jesse Melamed (Rocky Mountain Race Face) rode at the top of the standings all weekend to win Enduro World Series stop #2 in Petzen-Jamnica. Melamed won Saturday’s pro stage, and finished second behind Rude on the first two stages Sunday, before winning the third. The Whistler local then had to hold on for a massive 12-minute final stage, with the pressure on, to claim his first win of 2022.

Richie Rude (Yeti-Fox) secured second place, 14.93 seconds behind Melamed and an extremely close 1.09 seconds ahead of 2021 EWS winner Jack Moir (Canyon Cllctv). Ed Masters (Pivot Factory Racing) takes fourth and Poland’s Slawomir Lukasik (Canyon-Dianese) fifth.

Rhys Verner (Forbidden Synthesis) takes a huge seventh place in the pro men’s race. The Squamish, B.C.-based racer is starting this year healthy after a string of unfortunately timed injuries, so it is excellent to see Verner rewarded with a top-10 pro finish.

Jack Menzies (We Are One) held on for 11th, after finishing fourth on Saturday. That’s a big result for the young We Are One rider.

Remi Gauvin (Rocky Mountain Race Face) finished 21st, Evan Wall (Devinci Global Racing) 30th, Elliot Jamieson (Norco Factory Team) 40th, McKay Vezina (Giant Factory) 48th, Carter Krasny 59th and, rounding out Canadian pro men’s results, Jacob Tooke 63rd.

Andréane Lanthier Nadeau (Rocky Mountain Race Face) settled into 11th in the pro women’s race, another strong result for the Canadian. Angeline McKirdy moved up to 27th, Julia Long 29th and Lucy Schick (Norco) 31st. Isabeau Courdurier (Lapierre Zipp) takes the pro women’s win ahead of Morgane Charre (Pivot) and EWS round 1 winner Ella Conolly (Cannondale).

U21: Lan leads a big day out for young Canucks in Austria-Slovenia

Emmy Lan (Norco Factory Team) swept the u21 women’s race, winning all five stages to score her second EWS win in as many races.

Lily Boucher traded positions with speedy local, Tina Smrdel, all Sunday. Smrdel held on for second with Boucher joining Lan on the podium in third.

It was a big day for the u21 Canadian men, too. Johnathan Helly (We Are One) and Seth Sherlock (Intense Factory Racing) stood together on the podium in second and third, behind race winner Luke Meier-Smith (Propain Factory Racing). Emmett Hancock (We Are One) was close behind in sixth.